The BSkyB chief operating officer, Mike Darcey, today warned Virgin Media subscribers who want to watch The Sopranos and Mad Men not to expect Sky Atlantic on their EPG any time soon.

Darcey indicated that Sky was in talks with Virgin Media about a carriage deal to get Sky Atlantic onto its cable TV service.

But he implied that the two companies were some way off agreeing what Virgin Media might pay to carry Sky Atlantic, saying the cable company "would love Sky Atlantic and love it on the cheap". "I think it was offered at a very reasonable price," Darcey said.

Sky Atlantic launched on the company's digital satellite TV service on Tuesday, offering a lineup of US programming including the UK premieres of shows including Boardwalk Empire, Treme and Mildred Pierce.

The channel also has access to the entire HBO back catalogue, including The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and will be showing the fifth series of Mad Men later this year.

"Negotiating with Virgin Media is too strong a word. The team went down ... and made quite a substantial pitch [and] explained what we thought was a fair price. Thus far they have not been persuaded," Darcey told a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch.

He added that he felt that Virgin Media's "enthusiasm" for content had always been "a little bit lukewarm" – making reference to the sale Living TV to BSkyB last year and the current process to get rid of its 50% stake in Gold and Dave operator UKTV.

Darcey also dismissed claims that former Sky Sports presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys were just the tip of the iceberg of sexist behaviour at the broadcaster, arguing that the culture was no more "laddish" than displayed by Jeremy Clarkson and his co-presenters on Top Gear.

He was asked if there was a particular undercurrent of inappropriate behaviour in the male-dominated Sky Sports operation.

"I don't think that sport is that different [compared to other genres]," replied Darcey. "You see plenty of laddish behaviour on Top Gear ... there are parts of the schedule you see plenty of laddish behaviour. But these guys [Gray and Keys] didn't leave the company because of laddish behaviour, they crossed the line. You have to take action, it is as simple as that."

He said he expected that all producers – "and I include the producers of Top Gear in this" – will be "checking which side of the line you are on".

"I think that Barney Francis [Sky Sports managing director] and every other broadcaster in the light of the national debate will ask a range of questions and check they are happy where they are," Darcey added.

"There has been a lot of debate – can you get in trouble for personal opinions, personally held, or when talking with friends down the pub or off camera," he said. "In the end I don't think that is why Andy Gray left. What happened was that we have a pretty clear view at Sky of the sort of culture we want and the way employees are expected to treat each other. When behaviour crosses that line it is unacceptable."

Darcey also said that he was unaware of the overnight ratings for Sky Atlantic and the flagship Boardwalk Empire, which pulled in 438,000 viewers, claiming that overnight ratings figures are meaningless to the company and that "column inches" of coverage is more important right now.

"We look at success in another way, I stopped looking at overnights a long time ago, they are not very informative," he added. "At the moment what is far more important than viewing on night one or two is the cut through we got in the market in the weeks leading up to [the launch], awareness in the market. A better measure would be column inches at the moment."

He said that for one thing to get anything like "meaningful" numbers Sky waited a week to pick up seven-day viewing patterns from those who recorded the show on Sky+ or watched on the on-demand service Sky Anytime, neither of which are included by overnight viewing figures.

He added that for a pay-TV broadcaster, which is not as reliant on free-to-air broadcasters on audience numbers for selling advertising, it is "much, much more fundamental" to get subscribers.

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